I don't really get why Liam Neeson has been so popular. He seems to sleepwalk his way through his performances. If he was any more laid back he would be horizontal. That might be effective in some roles but surely a great Jedi Knight should have some charisma and vitality.
The character was fine. The performance was fine. The only problem IMO was that the character was ultimately unnecessary. Obi Wan could have and should have filled most of that character's role as he was originally meant to. I'd be interested to hear George's explanation for why he decided to split Obi Wan into two separate characters.
shareAlways two, there are. No more, no less. A Master and an apprentice.
shareThat's a quote from the movie alright. Not sure exactly how it relates here though. That only applies to Sith & it still doesn't make Qui Gon's existence any more necessary. Obi Wan would have still had Yoda as his master without Qui Gon's existence retconning it.
shareThat's standard stuff to have two characters so that they can talk to each other. They can't all talk to themlselves like John McClane in Die Hard...
shareSo Qui Gon existence was necessary because Obi Wan needed to have someone to talk to at the beginning of the film? Nonsense. They barely even interact once they meet Jar Jar very early on. Never mind that plenty of movies manage just fine without having to pair the protagonist with a partner/sidekick so he can always have someone to talk to. Not sure where you got that idea.
shareagreed. George overall handling of everything seems to have been sticky poo poo
shareI don't agree with that at all. What Lucas did still mostly worked but I just feel that a few key changes would have enhanced the film & the trilogy as a whole.
shareit mostly worked..... a political drama with no clear protagonist and most of the film not making any sense worked? I mean to each their own
shareSorry it didn't make sense to you but that was never and issue to me and for all the complaints I've heard, that's a new one. Many of us still enjoyed what what Lucas accomplished with the film even if we would have changed a few things.
shareI've never gotten that. My own roommate has used that dumb argument, that "oh the political plot was convoluted and hard to follow". It wasn't at all. For one thing, what do people think SHOULD have been the instigator for Palpatine to cause chaos in the galaxy and become Emperor? It was always going to be something political, that's the only thing that makes any real sense.
Secondly, the plot is very simple: bad guy corporate types, are blockading a poor, defenseless planet, trying to bully them into less agreeable business terms. The bad guys are using a droid army to enforce their will, even though secretly, the corporate jerks have been manipulated/pushed into this by an unseen hand in the darkness. Planet's young leader escapes, to go ask for help in the Galactic Senate, but the Senate takes too long to decide on anything, so she decides to go back and try to free her people herself, with a little Jedi (and Gungun) help.
The protagonists are clear: Padme who is trying to save her people, and the two Jedi assigned to protect her. Anakin is a little kid they meet along the way, who (as a little kid should be) is mostly along for the ride for most of the story once he enters it. The fact that he accidentally goes up into space and takes out the main droid ship, is both incidental, but also further proof of just how special he is.
How does none of that make clear sense? Nor the fact that behind the scenes Palatine had manipulated all of that to happen, specifically to install himself as Top Dude of the Galactic Senate? The entire point of the prequel trilogy, was to show how the Emperor took power and the Empire was created, and how an innocent little boy could grow up to be someone like Darth Vader.
I think all of that was pretty well clean cut and well handles, throughout the trilogy.
Your essay convinced me.
I wish the movie was as clear and focused.
What I saw was nonsensical political jibberish from those blue viceroys, a shitty kid forced into the plot, j.j., and some battle for which I could not care less.
The prequel trilogy was basically about how a democracy becomes a tyranny. The Star Wars novelization had explained that the Evil Empire was created when elected politicians changed and destroyed the democratic government from within. By the time citizens had realized what happened, it was too late. The Rebel Alliance is created in an attempt to restore democracy. Palpatine's actions are textbook behavior for ending democracy.
Lucas was interested in how democracies become tyranny like Nazi Germany. The Evil Empire = Nazi Germany. Notice the uniforms and stormtroopers.
Padme/Amidala: What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we've been fighting to destroy?
Needed a character to kill off for drama.
shareThe main problem wasn't even the simple fact that Qui Gon existed but that he's essentially the main character. If he absolutely had to be included he should have been featured as a secondary mentor like character and have Obi Wan play the more prominent role. Having Qui Gon waiting on the ship while leaving Obi Wan to discover Anakin would alone have made a big difference.
shareI don't disagree. I just think he created the character for the sole purpose of having a mentor/father figure of Anakin be killed off to fuel the traumatizing events of Anakin's life.
shareConsidering the fact that Obi-Wan gets to star, front and center, for the other two films, I see zero problem whatsoever with his master getting more of the "Spotlight" for this first outing. His master is the one who SHOULD be taking point, as he was still just a trainee. And it was neat, IMO, being able to see young, inexperienced Obi with his master.
I also had no problem with Yoda not being his DIRECT trainer, but rather the one who trained him as a "youngling". Yes, it was a little shift from him talking about "his master Yoda" in the OG trilogy. But so was him talking about Vader murdering Anakin in the same OG trilogy.
Yep, I think it's this and that Lucas wanted Obi Wan to be forced to train Anakin at too young an age - even before Ben became a Jedi Master IIRC.
Kenobi didn't want Anakin - Jinn insisted on it and the responsibility fell on his shoulders because of his allegiance to his master.
Therefore it's not Kenobi's fault that Anakin turned bad.
It's also directly illustrated/implied that Jinn was the right person to train Anakin, not Kenobi. Kenobi was a good Jedi, and he tried his best. But it was clear from the get go that Anakin related to and responded to Qui Gon VERY well. And Qui Gon was a maverick among Jedi, more of a "Grey Jedi" really, and thus why he was never on the council. He had the right temperament, and outlook, to train someone like Anakin, who was, frankly, never meant to be a Jedi (OR a Sith) in the first place.
What likely would have happened, and should have happened, had Qui Gon lived, was that he would have left the Jedi Order (as expanded media hinted at him considering anyway), and done what he told them: trained the boy himself, on his own, in his own way. That would have been for the best, because then Anakin would have been trained with Balance in mind. The rigid Jedi way was never a good fit for Anakin, he was too chaotic a being. I earnestly believe Qui Gon was meant to train/guide Anakin, and that would have led to the best possible outcome: Anakin ACTUALLY fulfilling the prophecy, and bringing Balance to Force, by essentially BEING Balance in the Force, a grey character untainted by either extreme.
But Palpatine knew this too, and thus had Qui Gon killed. He wanted Anakin to be what he meant him to be: a weapon.
undoubtably right. as one video said "obi wan and qui gon should have been combined to form a new character called obi wan"
shareYou say the character was unnecessary, I disagree. Qui-Gon's presence AND absence adds to the tragedy that is the path of Anakin. If Qui-Gon was not killed and was able to train Anakin then he most likely would not have turned to the dark side.
That's a popular Qui Gon fan theory which is fine but I just don't quite agree. I believe Anakin's relationship with Obi Wan was far more important & always wished that their had been a more meaningful foundation to their relationship in TPM. Same for Anakin and Padme which is why I would have also much preferred that Hayden Christiansen had been cast as as Anakin from the start so we wouldn't have to be essentially re-introduced to Anakin as a character in AOTC. This also allowing the main three protagonists of the trilogy to develop their on screen chemistry from the beginning.
shareOh, while i still think having Anakin be found as a child was the way to go, I did not like how in AotC Anakin had not seen Padme for 10 years. I wish they would have mentioned that the two had seen each other often over that 10 year period. It would have sold the love story more.
shareCGI in 1997(when Ep.I was made) wasn't that advanced to have Yoda as the Obi Wan's Jedi master for the whole movie,so Lucas created Qui Gon Jinn who is a good addition for the Saga IMO maybe I would have went with Sean Connery for an older version or Mel Gibson for a younger but Liam Neeson was good too.
shareAssetsonFire answered your question. Where there is an apprentice (Obi Wan Kenobi) there is a master in Qui-Gon Jinn.
Just like in the following two films it is Obi Wan Kenobi (Master) and Anakin Skywalker (Apprentice).
"That only applies to Sith" No it applies to both.
and?
shareIt applies only to the Sith since ambition caused them to kill each other.
Unlike the Sith, the Jedi could work together as a group. Qui-gon and Obi-Wan have opposite personality traits. Anakin was never a good candidate to become a Jedi, but Jinn is stubborn and optimistic about people whereas the other Jedi are more cautious and practical. Without Jinn, Anakin wouldn't have been trained.
I really liked him in this role. He did exactly what the role required, and he did it well.
shareI disagree with you that Liam is a bad actor. He was excellent in Schindler's List and deserved the Oscar nom he got. After that though he did end up becoming an action star and hasn't stopped doing so.
shareI strongly disagree. Liam was perfect in the role. Jedi are supposed to be like Buddhist monks. Most of them would be very Zen, and NOT exude some kind of rockstar "charisma". I don't think he phoned in the performance at all, in fact I think he did one of the best acting jobs of the film. I've always loved his character, because he's a "renegade" Jedi in many ways. He does his own thing, which the Council often disagrees with. But that's what's great about him, he follows what he feels is right, not merely what he is told. If it had been up to the Jedi Council, Mace Windu especially (who clearly never trusted Anakin, even later on), Little Ani would have been left out there blowing in the wind.
And it's interesting to see Obi-Wan have that kind of master, because Obi himself is fairly rigid and "play by the rules". It was basically like Captain Kirk training Captain Picard. In fact that's a perfect parallel.
I thought he was just fine in the role. Not Oscar-worthy or anything, I mean Oscar-level acting doesn't belong in Star Wars movies, but he brought a bit of fun to a movie that was bad overall, and exuded the kind of alpha charisma the character needed. And he was sexy, too, even if some fans don't appreciate it, you just *knew* that character bent the Jedi rules in private, as well as on business.
And I don't blame him at all for the midichlorian business.
I disagree. I really liked him in the role. Same with Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan. It was just the way they decided the Jedi were going to be portrayed that kind of soured me on the characters. I get they really wanted to hammer down on the mystic monk thing but they were boring. Their rules made no sense. They weren't fun. At least Qui Gon had SOME fun moments. I liked his relationship with Schmi (Schmee?). I can't tell you exactly what 17 year old me was thinking Jedi were supposed to be in this film but it wasn't what I saw in the movies. But Neeson did a great job with what he was given and I hated that he was killed off in the beginning and we didn't see more of him in future movies. It was a cheat to me.
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